Liquid Courage
by The Howling Behemoth
Summary: 'Everyone needs a little help.' That's what he kept hearing and telling himself. Being a shinobi of the Bloody Mist isn't easy. Kawaki, a fresh graduate receives help in becoming an outstanding ninja, for a price. A tale of addiction. Read for more detail. Better summary soon. OC story.


I do not own "Naruto" This story was made in collaboration with 'NaiaLune', we did it buddy!

I'd also like to give a shout out to the aunt Beverly of 'The Cowardly Christian' a fellow writer. I am sorry for your loss.

**Graduation Day**

I never wanted to be a ninja. Many of us didn't and still don't, but we don't have a choice. Orphans in the Village Hidden in the Mist are made shinobi, a way to pay the village back for caring for us when no one else would. A way of keeping a few ninja in reserves.

Each village had a different method of determining whether or not an academy student was worthy of graduation. By testing their skills, their minds, their resolve. The Village Hidden in the Mist, my village, had the most unique and by far most extreme. The academy students had to battle each other to the death. It's how the village earned the title, Bloody Mist.

I was brought from my thoughts by our Sensei speaking of tomorrow, of graduation day.

"Fail the test? You die." He stated bluntly. "You dying means a lower shinobi force. A lower shinobi force means less protection for the village. Less protection means our enemies easily overpowering us. And _that_ means that your friends, families and everyone you love will die or worse at their hands. So don't die, kill your enemy."

A grim outtake, either way someone will lose.

I looked around at my classmates, wondering how they were fairing. It was a...mixed collection. One of the students finally snapped. Looking a sickly pale, he ran to the door. He didn't make it. He fell to his knees and emptied his stomach all over the classroom floor. A few of the crueler students laughed at the weakness of their classmate. Some even making comments like 'Easy pass' or something on those lines.

Our Sensei looked at the student who couldn't hold his lunch for half a second before turning back to the class, no doubt already dismissing him as a failure.

"I'm sure some of you are thinking of not showing up." He began again. "Of defecting, well I can assure you that doing so is a death sentence. We _will_ hunt you down. We _will_ find you. We _will_ kill you. So li'uns, go out." He ordered with a big, fake smile. "Have fun! Get drunk, get blitzed and get fucked! Live today like it may be your last! You never know!"

That was how we had been dismissed for the last lesson we'd learn in the academy. That's what brought us here.

I look around, trying to figure out what I'm doing here. I'm in the red-light district of my village. I see many of my classmates and other would be graduates running around. Finding places to spend what could be their-our last night on Earth.

We had come as a group, I don't know who suggested it. One of the other students had suggested we take up our teachers advice. Many would be buying alcohol, women, men or whatever vice they could afford.

"Hey there cutie." A voice spoke in my ear.

I spin around to see a lady with a very large pair of...assets. She was wearing a very revealing dress that barely made it to her thighs. It was easy enough to guess what she was doing.

"H-Hi." I speak.

"Looking for a good time?" She asked as she leaned forward revealing more of her chest. "You know there's a nice discount for those of you who're taking those Genin exams tomorrow, interested?"

I blushed, I was _very_ interested. Unfortunately for me, my funds were a little...nonexistent.

I quickly excuse myself and turn around to leave. I was both embarrassed and frustrated by my own lack of funds, that lady had been very attractive. I walk and turn into the first door that I can. There was a bell that went off above me to signal a customer had entered.

"Come in, come in." A voice I couldn't see spoke. "No need to be shy."

I look around, trying to find the source of the voice that spoke. All I could see were four rows of shelves behind a counter. On each were an array of books and scrolls, just lazily placed there.

He wouldn't be showing himself. I considered turning around and leaving until he spoke.

"Ah, that's right! Tomorrow is graduation day." He spoke. "Well you've come to the right place."

I was curious at what could make this the 'right place' for my 'graduation' tomorrow. Would there be anything here of actual use?

I began to focus my chakra into my ears and listened to my surroundings. Something all Mist shinobi are to learn, even if it's not mastered. This may not be the Hidden Mist signature jutsu, but the concept was the same. Don't trust your eyes, they can and will betray you, focus on the other senses.

"What is this place?" I ask, trying to draw him out.

"This is the Windfall." He answered proudly. "A place where Shinobi can get certain help. Everyone needs a little help."

I listen to him speak, but I couldn't tell where his voice was coming from. It was like he was all around me, was I in a Genjutsu? Or was he...wait! I heard something to my left. It was faint, but I was sure that I had heard a floorboard creak.

"What kind of help?" I ask in that general direction.

I wait in silence for an answer and just when I think I had chosen wrong, I got it. He seemed to shimmer into existence

He was a tall man, but not towering. Actually he seemed to be slouched. He had fair but leathery skin that was full of wrinkles. His face was narrowed like a vulture with a long nose and beady eyes, strangely he had no no facial hair. No mustache, beard, eyebrows or even eyelashes. Even his head was completely shaven. He wore a black monk robe that seemed to be a size or two too large for him.

He gave me a smile that showed his perfectly white teeth. They completely contrasted with the rest of him and I don't know why but it just didn't match. It made me more uncomfortable than his vulture like appearance.

"What do you need?" He asked with what I assumed was his business smile. "Jutsu, information or something else?"

I look for anything that could be of use to me in the shop. Even if the books and scrolls really did have anything useful for tomorrow like a jutsu or technique it would make no difference. I didn't have enough time to study and master it before tomorrow. It's not like I had chakra to spare.

"Anything that'll help me survive?" I mutter to myself.

He seemed to have heard me because he perked up with that smile of his growing even larger. He shuffled behind the counter and pulled out a drawer and began to shuffle through it.

"I think this is what you're looking for." He stated as he tossed me something.

I caught it easily enough though I was tempted to let it hit the ground. It was a pill capsule with some king of clear liquid inside of it.

"What is it?" I ask.

"A little bit of liquid courage to help you tomorrow. Just a sample to get you through your exams tomorrow." He smiled. "Don't worry, the first one is always free. If you pass your graduation then come back and get some more."

I look at the pill again and wonder if I should accept it or not. Never take candy from strangers, that was something that was universal. But a part of me, the scared part, considered it. After all, why poison someone who was already near death.

With a quick thanks I accept the pill and leave.

. . .

"I've come for the boy." A voice spoke. "Kawaki."

I look at the one who would be escorting me to the...my graduation exam. It was just a precaution for those who would try and avoid the exam.

She had pale skin, visible but not overly defined muscular features with a viscous look in her eyes. Two red dots on her forehead that all members of the clan possess. Black hair tied and arranged in that two tight strands, similar to sideburns and a zigzag pattern on the cranial part. Her attire consisted of a long sleeve shirt with a sleeveless kimono over it. Her headband tied around her waist. This was a member of the Kaguya clan.

She couldn't have been more than a year or two older than me.

It seemed that while I was examining her, she had been doing the same to me. Noticing my trembling form and uncertainty, she spoke.

"You gonna try and run?" She asked.

She wanted me to run, I could tell, but she didn't want me to escape. No-she wouldn't _let_ me escape. She stood to the side, giving me a clear view of the village, a exit. But I also noticed that she was so...eager? If I ran, she'd cut me down.

"N-No." I answer.

. . .

As soon as I entered the classroom, I felt it. The blood lust was in the air.

Killer Intent was something we as residence of the Bloody Mist were familiar with, but this. I could barely breath. The blood lust hate coming from my classmates. I saw old friends glaring at each other. Students who had said little to nothing to one another with looks of hatred. Yet those paled in comparison to the blood lust coming from those with a smile.

The students were all spread out across the room, eyeing each other with suspicion and hate. The ones who hadn't broken down into tears that is. It seemed that some of the others could tell that they weren't up for what was to come. Maybe they partied a little to hard the night before, maybe they did party hard enough. Or maybe they just didn't have the heart for what was to come next.

Still, these are the would be graduates who showed up. I noticed that the class seemed to be missing nearly a third of the students. Something told me they hadn't just been delayed. They had defected.

We would be given a kunai from the proctor with a number on it. The number would take us to a room where we would battle a classmate to the death. These kunai would be the only weapon we were allowed to bring inside.

"The rules are simple." The proctor spoke. "The two of you go in but only one of you comes out."

We were paired at random, or so they say. Some believed that certain students with potential were given a weaker opponent for an easier pass.

I was among the first to receive a kunai from the proctor. I hold the kunai in my shaky hand, wondering if it had always been this heavy. It was a little worn down but as sharp as a freshly made blade. I wondered how many had graduated using it. This made me think of how many had fallen to it. I look at the number on the side of it. #4.

I was escorted to a room that was as the size of our classroom but completely empty. No seats or desks or even windows, nothing but the walls and ceiling. The only noticeable thing about the room was that instead of a floor, there was a pool.

The pool wasn't deep at only a foot high. We had to complete the battle while using the water walking technique or risk falling. The pool also gave us access to a supply of water for Jutsu.

I walk to the end of the room opposite the door so that I would see who my opponent would be as soon as they entered. I did't have to wait long, in less than five minutes my opponent had entered.

I look at the person who would be my opponent. I had seen him around class plenty, but had never actually conversed with him. He had been one of the more enthusiastic students, a firm believer in the Bloody Mist. I honestly believe he was looking forward to this day.

"Man, I think I lucked out." He spoke as he twirled his kunai. "I was worried they'd pit me against someone dangerous."

He made the first move, lunging at me with the kunai ready to impale me. He was faster than I expected, or was I just too slow? I just barely managed to move to the side to avoid being run through. Though he did manage to give me a small cut on my side. It was nothing I couldn't handle, I had been cut before.

I spun around in an attempt to strike him from behind. I missed! More accurately, he avoided my blow by ducking.

I froze. I had left myself completely vulnerable with my upper body twisted and so spread. By the cruel smile on his face, he knew it too. In that split second he struck.

I couldn't stop myself from screaming. The kunai lodged in my stomach...it...hurt more than anticipated. I had never been stabbed before. I wanted to take it out, but then I'd weakening myself further from blood loss if not outright bleeding to death. I didn't know what to do!

"Shit, is that it?" He asked with a smirk. "I was sure I lucked out, but now I think I might have been cheated. I almost feel bored."

I jump back, trying to get some distance between us. The kunai, the wound, it through me off balance. I lost control of my chakra and fell onto my backside.

I needed to keep him at a distance. I began weaving hand signs for one of the few Jutsu that I knew. Dog-Bird-Mo...No...Bird-Dog...No, that wasn't it either! I couldn't focus. I couldn't remember the hand-signs! He was getting closer! He was...he should have caught me by now, I wasn't that far. Yet he was walking. As if he had all the time in the world.

_He's toying with me!_ I realized.

A part of me wanted to be angry but another understood why he didn't see me as a threat. And he was right not to. The fight had just started and I was already at the end of my rope. I was scared! I needed help! I needed he-

Then I remembered-'Everyone needs a little help.'

Those words echoed in my head like a like a thunderbolt echoed in a cave.

Suddenly I noticed a weight in the back of my pocket beginning to feel a little heavier. I desperately reached in and pulled the capsule out. I still didn't know what this did or if it could even help me in this situation. Just that I was desperate enough to try it. Desperate enough to try anything!

I popped the capsule in my mouth and crushed it between my teeth. A sour liquid filled my mouth and I swallowed it on reflex though I did almost gag.

Still don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't nothing. I felt exactly the same. I didn't feel a surge of chakra. I didn't heal. I just felt...fine? No, that wasn't the right word. I felt so disconnected. As if there was a haze over my mind and yet my thoughts were as clear as day. Like the wounds didn't matter.

I looked down to see the kunai still lodged in my side, I plucked it out. The blood flowed just as I expected and it hurt, but nothing I couldn't handle. It was just pain.

My display seemed to have caused my opponent to pause in which I could see an opening.

I through the kunai at him and he blocked it with his own. That gave me enough time to go through my hand signs.

Water Style: Water whip Jutsu

Water from the pool below gathered and began forming into a whip the size of five feet of rope in my hand.

I struck the ground in front of him making him step back. He wobbled before he caught himself and glared at me. His eyes glancing warily at the water weapon in my hand.

"Got a little fight in you after all." He stated as he performed his own hand signs.

Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu

Two identical copies of my opponent appeared on either side of him.

All three switched the kunai into a reverse grip and spread out on either side of me.

I struck the first with the whip across the face and watched as it tore into him. Only instead of blood it was water, I hit the clone. He dispersed back into a pile of water.

A sharp pain in my shoulder signified the kunai had landed. I quickly pulled it out at threw it out and threw it back at the one directly behind me. Another clone.

I turned to the last one, the real one. He took a step back and I smiled. If this was the best he could do then I had won this fight.

I crack the whip on the surface of the pool, the force managed to cause a spray that blocked his view. In that moment, I swung the whip at him and felt it contact. I managed to get him once across the face, there was a deep and bloody gash on his cheek.

He held his hand to his wounded cheek and pulled back to examine the blood, the look of disbelief on his face quickly turned to anger. I readied the whip for another strike.

He lunged at me and I-flinched. I didn't understand it but I was scared of him again and of the kunai in his hand.

I had managed to raise my hands in defense but he still knocked me over. I had one hand trying to keep his arm off of my throat and the other from killing me with the kunai. But he was saw heavy.

_What's happening!?_ I asked myself desperately, I was winning! Whatever I had taken had clearly worn off already. My fear was back and my heart was beating in my chest, I wasn't eager anymore. I didn't want to win, I wanted to live!

The pain in my stomach was back, even worse now that he was pressing his weight onto it. The kunai in his hand, it was getting closer! He was going to stab me!

"OFF!"

I couldn't take the pressure anymore. I struck out, it was a blind blow but I felt it connect with something. The blow had everything I could muster behind it. Thankfully that seemed to be enough because the weight finally came off of me.

I rolled to my side as fast as I could and pushed myself onto my feet. Standing was hard than and staying standing was even harder, I wasn't even going to try and worry about my wobbling at the moment. I just focused my gaze ahead.

My opponent was still on the ground. He was kicking and flailing his legs about, holding his hands to his neck. It was when his face started changing a dangerous blue that I understood what had happened. When I punched him I hit his throat and crushed it. He was suffocating.

He looked at me with such desperate eyes. Tears were flowing freely as he struggled to breath.

I thought about moving forward to finish the job, but stopped. I had neither the strength nor the desire to end his life. It was already over anyway, no reason to kill a dead man. Though I wished he didn't have to suffer.

I couldn't save him, but I could still be caught in a trap. So I kept my distance and waited until he stopped stopped struggling, until he stopped living. It took a full two minutes for the sounds and motions to stop.

_Was he dead?_ I wondered but didn't move.

There was always the off chance that this was a trap and I could set it off at any time. I moved to one of the kunai that had been lying on the floor and then the other.

Once both were in my hands I tossed the first one at him. The weapon struck him in the stomach and dug deep. He hadn't so much as flinched. I waited for any sort of delayed reaction before doing the same with the second kunai. He still didn't move. I still waited. I waited until I could see a small pool of blood forming underneath him. It was blood, not water. Not a clone.

He was dead. I had passed my graduation exam. I had just killed my classmate.

I made my way to the door.

There was no lock so I just opened it. There had been a Jonin at the door, no doubt as a guard in case a student or two tried running.

He noticed me immediately and raised an eyebrow.

"Done already?" He asked, sounding shocked. "Well you're the first out, something like that is recognized you know, shows promise."

As he said that other doors began opening as the others began exiting. I paid them little attention as we were lead away.

Thankfully there were several medical Shinobi waiting for us once we had finished our fights. There were a few who managed to graduate unscathed and a few who were worse off than I was. I had gotten my stomach and side healed, but only enough to function. They left us with scars so that we would forever remember this day.

"Congratulations!" The proctor spoke. "Today you have proven that you are survivors! You are killers! You are now Genin of the Village Hidden in the Mist!"

I was sure that the speech was supposed to be inspiring but all I felt was sick to my stomach. By the weak applause and sounds of retching that came from around me I wasn't the only one not feeling great. Though a few did sound more enthusiastic then others.

I looked around to see who had graduated. It seemed that there where a total of fifteen graduates. Fifteen survivors. From a class of over sixty students.

"Don't let this get to your head, this is only the beginning!" The Proctor continued. "As a Shinobi, of the Mist no less, the dangers truly start now. You will be tasked to fight, kill and even die if need be for this village!"

Something cold and heavy fell in my stomach at his words. More of this! More fighting for my life, putting myself on the line for a cause I didn't even believe in! I had barely escaped and this had been against another student!

But I couldn't just quit. A Shinobi of the Mist continued on until they were either crippled, be it physically or mentally, or until they were dead. No sooner, no exceptions. I had to do this type of thing over and over again! Or Die!

A weight fell onto my lap nearly breaking my train of thought, I look down to see my Headband. The symbol of my status in this village. A Shinobi of the Bloody Mist.

We had been told to go home and rest and celebrate our accomplishments. To come back the next day to meet our Sensei. I would be going home, but first I needed to make a detour.

. . .

I had entered the shop to see it as empty as it was the night before. The daylight did nothing to change the atmosphere of this place. Only the owner was there, standing happily at the counter as if awaiting something, or someone.

He smiled as soon as he saw me or rather my headband.

"What did you give me!?" I asked, keeping myself as calm as possible.

He seemed to see through this as he gave me that wide 'business' smile of his.

"I gave you what you needed." He answered with confidence. "Something to help you through your graduation as promised."

"You drugged me?"

"I simply gave you something that would help you and it worked. No different than a soldier pill or a Jutsu." He continued. "Do you think you'd be here to complain to me if it hadn't worked?"

I was silent. I knew I would be dead right now if I hadn't had that capsule.

Dead.

Dead.

I didn't want to die.

I was alive now, a ninja of the Bloody Mist. I wanted to stay alive.

"It wore off after only a few minutes." I stated.

"Of course it did." He stated as if it were obvious. "I told you it was only a sample, each one lasting only five minutes. The stronger and longer lasting is for customers only. Sorry, but I can't keep giving you freebies." He stated with false sadness. "It's just bad for business you see. If you want more, I believe it's time we talked prices."

"I don't have any money yet." I stated, making him frown. "B-But after a few missions!"

"Though as we hadn't discussed it earlier I doubt you could have afforded some of the _harder_ stuff...yet." He said after he gave me a once over. "Of course, if you want to make a deal I could use a shinobi with skill every once in awhile."

If I wanted to continue on as a Shinobi of the Bloody Mist, if I wanted to survive, I would need some help. There was nothing wrong with that, right? Everyone needs a little help.

"What do you want?"

**Review- What do you all think, worth continuing? Just need 10 positive reviews.**

**I know it's a little quick, but I'll be doing my best to spread it out a little more. I know there was also very little description of Kawaki, if this is continued then that'll change next chapter.**

**Constructive criticism appreciated. **


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